Tom and Debbie's Mission Blog

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Completing 500 years; 11 days to go

This week we celebrated 500 years of the reformation. A legal holiday was created in Germany this year for this purpose. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517. We have been inspired by much of this history during our mission. We spent the week in Frankfurt to provide self-reliance training for Elder and Sister Carroll and Elder and Sister Kitterman. We also continued our farewells from our mission and preparation for our departure, which is now only 11 days away.

A group of senior missionaries in front of the Church where we attended a Reformation Celebration

Our week stared last Sunday with a 5th Sunday lesson on Self-Reliance. Elder and Sister Carroll helped us to share the self-reliance initiative with the ward and invite them to participate in Self-Reliance groups. It looks like we have around 20 participants to join in the Finance, Find a Better Job and Starting and Growing My Business self-reliance groups. We are helping in the preparations but will have to allow the Carrolls to see these through to completion.

On Monday morning we started our formal training for Elder and Sister Carroll and continued throughout the week. This has included Zoom meetings, in person training sessions and hands on work with several on going projects. The first day included getting them signed onto their computers in the space where we have been working. It is the right way to go, but sends a clear message that our days are numbered. We are now working only from our laptops without any access to large screens or comfortable office chairs.

500 Years of the Reformation and our experiences during our mission

On Monday night we used our family home evening to rewatch the movie of Luther, filmed in 2003. We had seen this movie early on in our mission, before we made our first visit to Erfurt. Now that we have been able visit many of the sites mentioned in the movie, it became much more meaningful to us. We are grateful for men like Martin Luther who paved the way for an environment where the gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored to the earth. This night became a spiritual experience for us.

Title page from the movie Luther about the life of Martin Luther

The movie started in Erfurt in 1507 where Martin Luther became a monk

Since we have been to many of these locations we would like to share a few of our photos that show the chronology of the restoration:

From our visit to Erfurt in March 2016:

The door into the Erfurt monastery where Martin Luther entered in 1507

The inner court of the monastery in Erfurt

The room where Martin Luther studied in the monastery

Martin Luther left Erfurt to go to Wittenberg where he studied further and taught in the Church in Wittenberg. This was the time that he nailed his 95 theses to the door and where he lived as the reformation took place. This is also where he married and had childlren.

Photos from our visit to Wittenberg in September 2017:

Sister Rueckert in front of the Castle Church in Wittenberg

In front of the location of the door where the 95 theses were nailed. The current door is in bronze with the 95 theses imprinted on the door.

In front of the Lutherhaus, where Martin Luther lived in Wittenberg

After his theses were posted, he was called to the Diet of Worms to recant his teachings in 1521 before the Church and Government authorities. There he refused to recant, stating:
"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen."

After the Diet of Worms, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and labeled as a common criminal.

Elder Rueckert standing in the Heylshof Gardens in Worms with the words of Martin Luther inscribed below

As Martin Luther left Worms, he was kidnapped by his supporters before he could be apprehended by his enemies. He was taken to the Castle at Wartberg where he stayed for sometime, translating the New Testament into German for the first time.

We were able to visit the Wartberg Castle in August 2016. A few photos follow:

Wartberg Castle

Sister Rueckert in the room in the castle where Martin Luther translated the New Testament

While Martin Luther was in Wartberg, there was significant violence occurring throughout Germany, led by some of his supporters. One of them was Thomas Munster of Thuringia. We were able to learn about Thomas Munster during our visit to Muhlhausen in August 2017:

Martin Luther finally had to leave his safety in the Wartberg Castle to help his followers to become peaceful, which was always his intent. Some of the meetings in those years were held in the castle at Marburg. We visited this castle at the beginning of our mission in January of 2016.

Painting of one of the meetings in Marburg of the Reformers. They met here in 1526 and 1527.

The next morning, October 31, 2017 we joined with several other senior missionaries to go to a Reformation Celebration in Frankfurt am Main. Fortunately we arrived early and were able to find a seat. The meeting in the Katherinenkirche was completed filled with standing room in every open space of the Church 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time.

On Sunday morning we sang "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in our Sunday service. We also sang the same song, written by Martin Luther, in German at this celebration. This included a nice concert and plenty of prayers and talks, all in German. Although we did not understand it all, it felt good to be able to honor this historic time with the German people.

Program for the Reformation Services

A Might Fortress is Our God in German

Standing Room only inside of the Church

Musical program and speakers

Back to the rest of our week

After the program we returned to the office with Elder and Sister Carroll. On the way to the train, we showed them the historic downtown of Frankfurt. We love Frankfurt!

Selfie with Elder and Sister Carroll in historic downtown Frankfurt am Main

After returning to our office we participated in our last group meeting with our Self-Reliance missionaries. All but one couple were able to participate. With Elder and Sister Carroll, we shared our insights and experiences of the previous week in Paris. This has been a big part of our mission and we will miss these wonderful missionaries.

15 different zoom room participants - missionary group meeting

On Wednesday we continued our training with E/S Carroll. That evening we held our last meeting with the returned missionaries in our ward. Sister Rueckert made her last batch of cookies with her last chocolate chips on Tuesday and we shared them with the missionaries.

On Thursday, our training included Elder and Sister Kitterman who have recently arrived as Self-Reliance missionaries in Germany. With the Carrolls we had a wonderful training day with this couple. They have served a previous mission in the Europe Area and are very prepared and capable. We are excited for their contributions to this great work. They are busy preparing for our upcoming My Path Devotional in Austria this next week and clearly have everything under control.

Missionary training with E/S Kitterman, Thomas King, E/S Carroll and E/S Rueckert

As part of this training we held a Facilitator orientation session with Elder and Sister Nelson, a new missionary couple that is willing to facilitate a Finance Group in the International Ward.

Facilitator training for E/S Kitterman, Nelson and Carroll

We finished our training day with a meeting of the Frankfurt Stake Self-Reliance Committee that evening. This meeting went very well, showing great progress of this stake over the time of our mission. The committee was all in attendance and there was meaningful discussion about the status and plans for self-reliance groups in each of the wards of the stake.

Frankfurt Stake Self-Reliance Committee with Sis. Rueckert. E/S Kitterman and Carroll were observing but were not included in the photo.

We finally finished our Thursday with a birthday zoom meeting with our granddaughter, McKenzie who turned 10. We attended her baptism right before our mission officially began. How time flies.

McKenzie with one of her birthday books that she received form us

Friday we continued our training and our preparations for our trip to Sweden and Austria this next week. This included good meetings with the Publishing Service people (Rita and Judith) about the Country pages and Aaron from the Finance department about expenses and budgets. Elder and Sister Carroll also had some new missionary orientation, so we moved forward with some of our preparations on our own. We also had a visit from Constanza and her husband Kiever. She is our former Administrative Assistant before she took a leave to have their first child, Arturo, who they brought for us to see.

Kiever, Constanza and Arturo

That night we were invited to dinner with Elder and Sister Cottam. They have become dear friends of ours ever since we invited them to dinner six months ago. Since then they have reciprocated with two different invitations and an invitation to visit them after we both return from our missions. This is one of the major blessings from our mission, wonderful relationships with amazing missionary couples.

On Saturday we were invited for lunch with Thomas and Raelene King. Tom has been our "boss" and he and Raelene have been special friends. They were kind enough to take us to an Australian restaurant. They are from Australia, so this was a special treat for us. They have been a major part of our mission and a source of many of our blessings.

Dinner at the Australian Restaurant, a little sunny in the background

Took advantage and ordered Kangaroo Steak

Kangaroo Steak, delicious

Photo by the kangaroo in the painting on the wall

With our dear friends, Tom and Raelene King

We spent the rest of the day packing one more box to send home, deep cleaning our balcony and living room, and doing a bit more self-reliance work that needed to be done.

On Sunday morning (today) we were able to participate in our last Fast and Testimony meeting in our ward and to share our testimonies. The time was limited, but the spirit in the meeting was strong. Besides us and another senior,missionary going home, testimonies were born by a German, a Portuguese, an Italian (with the bishop translating) and an Irish member. We also had the baby blessing of little Arturo whose parents are Brazilian and Spanish, the blessing was in Portuguese. I participated in our Portuguese My Foundation class and we had non member visitors from China, India and two from Ghana. Also our new member, Jan (German with a Russian wife) blessed the sacrament for the first time. This is what makes it an "International Ward". We will miss this ward!

Some thought from the scriptures

I had some very powerful feelings this week while reading scriptures with my wife. On Monday night, after watching the Luther movie, we were strongly effected by the Holy Ghost. As we read D&C 138, every word sunk deep into my heart. It was amazing to understand clearly all that President Joseph F. Smith had seen. After getting so involved in family history work on our mission, it was even more powerful.

Those who were described in this vision included Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God. It describes in detail the steps taken in the next life to teach the gospel to those who are in Spirit Prison and clarifies the power of vicarious ordinances which we do in the temples and so much more. I can certainly testify that this section is a revelation from God. The reading of this section became a profoundly spiritual experience for me.

On Saturday night, we read the last chapter of 2 Nephi, which were the last words of Nephi. Once again, I was overwhelmed by the spirit, each word was profound. He testifies of our Savior Jesus Christ and makes it clear what we need to do to receive the power of the Holy Ghost into our hearts. He is very clear on the role of the words of Christ and our need to soften our hearts and listen to those words.

Lately it feels like the Holy Ghost has been much closer to us as a missionary couple. Spiritual promptings and experiences are occurring more often. The scriptures are speaking to us in an amazing way. We testify that our Heavenly Father lives and that he often speaks to us through the scriptures. If we will only soften our hearts to listen, he will testify to us!

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Being Taught from on High in Paris

A week of learning from 2 members of the Quorum of the Seventy and in the Paris Temple. We thoroughly enjoyed our Self-Reliance Seminar with our SR managers this week and were honored by their kindness to us. We had some very difficult good-byes, but with wonderful memories.

Our Self-Reliance Team of managers and Area Missionaries with Elder Arnold and Heath Bradley from HQ

Last Sunday we met with Jan Holman, now a new member of the Church. We have been meeting with him for the past few months and trying to help him with his self-reliance needs. He has been participating in one of our My Job Search courses. While we were on our last trip, he was finally baptized. Jan is a very good person with a good heart and a great testimony. He is highly qualified in the job market but has not been able to find the right fit. Before we left on our last trip, he was quite ill. Fortunately, he has been able to recover his health and now he is a member of the Church. Although we were not a major factor in his conversion story, it is always heartwarming to participate with sincere investigators and to see them move forward in their lives. Today Jan was ordained a to the office priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.

Jan Holman, new convert to the Church

We got up early on Monday morning to take Elder and Sister Proctor to the airport as they returned home. Besides allowing us to say goodbye to good friends, this also let us use the van we had reserved for our trip to Paris and to receive the keys to the apartment that Elder and Sister Carroll will stay in for the next few weeks.

Elder and Sister Proctor at the airport on their way home

After picking up Elder and Sister Carroll at the hotel, we attended our normal Monday morning devotional. This time the speaker was Elder Massimo De Feo, 2nd counselor in the Area Presidency. His message was amazing. In his talk to the workforce and senior missionaries, he shared three choices that he made in his life that have made all of the difference. These three choices have helped him to balance his career with spiritual priorities. They are:

Choose to put the Lord first - He asked Heavenly Father to help him get a job that would allow him to serve God, allow his wife to stay home and for him to travel. He shared miraculous events that helped him achieve this.
Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong - Give more than what you take. Of course it is hard. Rely on the lord and he will give you strength.
Choose to believe in the power of God in your life - The Lord will give us always what we need, not necessarily what we want. When we align our desires with the Lord there is nothing that will prevent us from receiving what we want (aligned with our true needs) because he has all power.

Elder De Fed speaking to the workforce

After the devotional, we were finally ready to begin our trip to Paris. We drove in a van. This included E/S Carroll, E/S Rueckert, our manager Tom King and Hartmut Adler, an employee from Human Resources. We finally got on the road a little before 11:00 am. After spending several hours in traffic around Paris, we arrived at our hotel around 7:00 pm. After checking into the hotel, we parked the van in the Temple parking under the Paris Temple. Our hotel was only a few hundred meters from the temple.

Monday night view of the Paris Temple

Our Self-Reliance Team seminar began the next morning with a devotional message from Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the Quorum of Seventy. Elder Arnold is now serving on the Self-Reliance Committee in Salt Lake City and is our first contact with SR in Europe. He also served for some time as the Executive Director of the Temple Department. We were blessed to have him spend all day Tuesday and Wednesday with us.

Elder Mervyn B. Arnold, preparing to instruct us in the Visitors Center of the Paris Temple

Elder Arnold taught us that the temple is literally the House of the Lord. He taught us to prepare better to go to the temple, not be pressured with time, and to pray very specifically for those for whom we are proxy in the temple. His counsel became even more special because many of our team, including Elder Arnold, were participating in this endowment session on behalf of our ancestors. Personally, I was going through on behalf of my 12th great grandfather who was born in the 1500s.

With these thoughts in our minds and hearts, the temple session became even more meaningful. After the temple session, we met in the beautiful garden area for a few photos.

In front of the Christus Statue in the Gardens of the Paris Temple

In front of the back (garden) entrance to the Paris Temple

With E/S Carroll and our manager Tom King

After the temple session we went to the local meetinghouse to continue our seminar. Elder Arnold had asked each manager to take a few moments to introduce himself and then to discuss his major challenges and successes and a few numbers of Self-Reliance activity in 2017 compared with 2016. This worked amazingly well as we discussed their challenges, many of which were common to all. This continued for the remainder of the Tuesday seminar and through our Wednesday session.

At one point, the discussion turned a little bit negative about some leaders who do not embrace self-reliance. Elder Arnold stopped the discussion and said "When we start getting down on priesthood leaders, the Holy Ghost is gone! Let's be more positive, what can we do?" He told us that the Holy Ghost had told him to share this with us. He instructed us that we need to come up with solutions. When we say that the problem is with others, we give away our agency. As he finished this moment of instruction, he said "Thanks for listening, the Holy Ghost is back."

We all felt exactly what he was describing. It was a powerful lesson for all of us.

That evening Elder Arnold joined the team on a dinner cruise on the Seine River through Paris. It was a beautiful evening with amazing views of the beauties of Paris and good food also. We especially noted the effort of Elder Arnold to spend one on one time with each of the managers throughout the seminar, especially during this activity.

Dinner on the riverboat in Paris, Eiffel Tower in the background

The Eiffel Tower, on the shores of the Seine River

E/S Rueckert in front of the Eiffel Tower, from the boat

Statue of Liberty monument also on the Seine River, near the Eiffel Tower

The Louvre Museum as seen from the Seine River

The Notre Dame Cathedral as seen from the Seine River

We returned from this trip just a little after 11:00 pm. We had missed the last train to Versaille. We had to take two different metros to get to a third train station to arrive back at our vehicles. By the time we returned to our hotel, it was 1:00 am. It was an incredible day and certainly even more memorable due to the extended train rides we had to get home.

Waiting for the third train at almost midnight with 28 minutes before it would arrive to pick us up. The ever-present Eiffel Tower in the background.

Finally on the last train home. Not too crowded at this time of night.

On Wednesday the seminar started with a message from Elder De Feo who gave us new understanding as he opened our hearts and minds about self-reliance. He told us that there is no way we can rule worlds in the eternity if we can't be self-reliant in this life.

He shared the emphasis of the First Presidency to follow President's Monson's admonition to Reduce & Simplify. He shared the following three filters which were shared by President Eyring for us to use in our work with priesthood leaders:

Does what I am doing connect people to the Atonement of the Savior?
Is what I am asking people to do serve the people or is it for me?
Am I creating burdens or am I lifting burdens?

He said that if Priesthood Leaders don't see the connection to the Atonement of the Savior, it creates a burden. He also shared President's Uchtdorf's thoughts that we must always have the goal to hit the bulls eye of the Lord. Our job is to align with His goal which is the ordinances of salvation.

Elder De Feo then shared how he had gained his conversion to the principles of Self-Reliance, through the loving teachings and examples of a few of our managers who had worked with him in the past. His personal examples were powerful to each of us.

He said that we need to help Priesthood Leaders see that we are trying to help people connect to Christ.

After giving us wonderful counsel, Elder De Feo taught us by using the story of the Savior feeding the 5,000 (see Matthew 14 and Mark 6). He said the disciples said that thy did not have enough food to feed the multitude. They focused on what was missing. The Savior asked them what food they had, focusing on what they had. He then asked them to bring it to him and he worked a powerful miracle. When the miracle was completed, there were 12 baskets of bread left.

He said too often we focus on what is missing. He summarized this teaching with three simple steps;

Focus on what you have
Bring it to the Lord
Increase your faith and expect miracles

He shared another example from 2 Kings 4 of a widow who was to lose 2 children to pay for her debts. She went to Elisha and asked him what she should do. He asked "What hast thou in the house?" She had one pot of oil. He told her to borrow other vessels and pour from the pot to the vessels and eventually to sell the oil in the vessels to pay the debt. Once again he asked her to focus on what she had, bring it to the Lord and increase her faith and expect miracles.

Elder De Feo says it is not about hard times, it is about focusing on increasing our faith.

The Holy Ghost testified so strongly of the truth of this doctrine. It goes well beyond our temporal needs. This is how we do what we can and let the Grace of the Savior do the rest.

This morning we got a phone call from home about a certain difficult situation. As we listened, I was prompted to share the messages from Elder Arnold and Elder De Feo from this past week. Once again the Spirit bore testimony of the truth of these words. We were all in tears with gratitude to our Heavenly Father.

Elder De Feo teaching us in the SRS Seminar

We were then taught by our Director of Temporal Affairs, Steve Maynes. He taught us of the value of simplicity. The Savior is the master of simplicity. Satan is the mater of complexity. He said that the more we are able to align with the Lord's bull's eye, we get to be an instrument in His hands.

He also shared the role of the Temporal Affairs office to act as agents to the Presiding Bishop (D&C 84:112-113). Our role is to prepare the way for great miracles to take place!

Steve Maynes sharing in the SRS Seminar

After completing the presentations of all of the managers, Elder Arnold taught us again. He went to the same chapters that Elder De Feo had mentioned (Matthew 14 and Mark 6) and continued the story. After feeding the 5,000, the Savior had sent his disciples onto the ship on the Sea of Galilee while he stayed back and prayed. He had just heard about the death of John the Baptist. The scriptures say that he prayed until evening.

In Mark 6:47-48 it says "And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary to them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea". He was aware of their challenges in the evening but awaited until the fourth watch (near dawn) before he went to their aid. When he arrived he told them to "be of good cheer".

He often watches us and waits for us to struggle with our challenges. Elder Arnold told of 6 months of struggling for he and his wife after a child had died. He said that the Savior let him go through until the 4th watch. Then he received specific direction and eventually felt the Saviors arms around him and was healed.

We were taught that we will have to go through our own Gethsemane. However, he will never let us sink as he didn't let Peter sink that night on the water. He helps us get back into the boat as he did for Peter. Sometimes miracles take a lot of work and a lot of rowing. We must include the Savior in everything. We don't need to worry about making excuses for anything. This is a spiritual work because it is His!

Elder Mervyn B. Arnold instructing us in the SRS seminar

By the end of Wednesday, we were completely filled and overflowing with the Spirit that had been conveyed by these servants of the Lord. We then went to a Team Building activity at the Versailles Palace. This included a tour of the palace and some time on the grounds and finally a dinner together afterwards. This time we arrived at our hotel before 10:00 pm, our hearts still pondering all that had occurred that day.

Sister Rueckert was our team leader for the activity

In the famous Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles Palace

Panorama photo of one of the rooms in the palace

Behind the Versailles Palace and the reflecting pond

The gardens of the Versailles Palace behind us

Group photo of our team with some girls from Chile. We shared our Me in 30 Seconds with them as part of our activity.

Team dinner after the Versailles Activity

By Thursday morning, all of the General Authorities had departed and we had the last day of the seminar with Heath Bradley, Tom King and his team. Many agenda items had been moved to the last day and shortened in duration. However, we thought the presentations and discussions were excellent and the inspiration continued.

Tom King sharing the new agenda for the last day

We participated in a few of the presentations. This photo is of our presentation on Senior Missionaries. It went very well and led into excellent presentations by some of our mangers on the same topic.

Sister Rueckert sharing the passing of the baton of our role to Elder and Sister Carroll.

As we were in the middle of the topics of this seminar, we stopped for a short lunch. During the lunch break, Tom King took a moment to thank us for our service and then presented bags of gifts from each of the managers. We were caught totally off guard and felt an overwhelming feeling of love from each of them. They had compiled a book of our mission with photos and comments from each of their areas. The following is a few photos of these amazing acts of kindness that were shared with us. We returned the book without a thorough review so that they could reprint it to resolve a few small printing errors. We will have it back before we leave our mission.

"Our Mission" book, priceless!

Tom King with the European map Hippo that he had made for Sister Rueckert

Portugal Team with the Harry Potter cape which is still used in Porto, Portugal. This is where the inspiration came when JK Rowling was a teacher in Porto, Portugal.

Sister Rueckert in our Harry Potter cape from Portugal along side many of the other gifts that we received

New gifts on our empty shelves in Frankfurt.

Momo Djemai, our manager of the French and Dutch speaking countries hosted this seminar and did an amazing job. He arranged the activities, the hotel, the meals and all the details of the seminar. He gave small Eiffel towers, Paris guide books, etc. While he was planning this early on, Sister Rueckert had told him that we should have chocolate Eiffel Towers. He didn't do one for everyone, but he did provide this chocolate Eiffel Tower for Sister Rueckert:

Friday morning, before we left for home, E/S Carroll and we made one more visit to the Paris Temple to do some initiatory work for our ancestors. Not to be overshadowed by the amazing experiences of the week, we love the work that was done for our ancestors this week. 13 of our ancestors had their endowments performed and several more had their initiatory work completed. This brings so much joy to my heart. We know it is part of this great work of the gospel.

We left the temple a little after 11:00 am and arrived home around 6:30 in the evening. We spent a lot of time in the van during this trip. Elder Rueckert did a lot of the driving in Paris and was able to rest on the way home as Tom King and Hartmut did the driving.